Thursday evening

Oh blog. Where does the time go? I am either stressed out, or lazy, or both.

First off, President Obama. How wonderful was Tuesday? I Tivo'd the whole thing with my boys (and Rachel!) over at MSNBC, plus CNN for backup, and came home to watch the actual oath and speech bit on TV live. Then later that night I boop-booped through my recordings, relishing the boo's and laughing at Dick Cheney as he was whisked stage left as the Former Occupant headed out onto the inaugural platform to a chorus of boos. Good stuff.

Cassidy found this picture, I just love it:



Look at that gorgeousness. Love it.

And his girls were so beautiful and polite and gracious and full of humanity and there for their dad. I love how they make him smile.



This one I found, as well as a few others in this post, over at Boston.com. Lots of very cool photos of the big day. This is apparently a satellite photo taken around 11:19am of the area:


This one sort of blows my mind:



Cassidy's BFF Woolie was actually there, at the inauguration -- she even has a picture of herself posing ironically with the Jonas Brothers! (top that!) I will seek permission and maybe even post this pic if allowed. I am hoping that Woolie jots it all down, because I would love to hear all about it.

I am also hoping my old friend who works in D.C. will be sharing his observations about the day as well! (hint hint.)

Garrison Keillor was there, too! He caught a flight and then road the subway in:

I rode with a group of black women who had left Portsmouth, Va., at 1 a.m. to be sure to be there on time. They were heavily bundled and so excited they could hardly speak. And then when the conductor called out "Union Station, Washington," one of them looked at the others and she burst into tears. And they all cried. I would have, too, if they'd looked at me.

I also loved this bit from his essay...

It was more than Democrats feeling their oats or African-Americans celebrating the unimaginable, more than revulsion at the gang of bullheads who held power for too long. It was a huge gasp of pleasure at a new America emerging, a country we all tried to believe in, a nation that is curious and venturesome, more openhearted and public-spirited.

All kinds of people, the slim and sleek, the XXXLs, the heavily insulated, the carefree. We moved through ranks of souvenir sellers—whatever else he may accomplish, Obama has been a boon to the pin and T-shirt trade—and in our slow trek toward the Capitol, one felt the enormity of the day for the black people around us. I wouldn't try to express, I simply was grateful to be among it. Old ladies with sore feet hauled themselves along.

The crowd down below the podium had their opinions. There was a profound silence when Laura Bush was announced and walked out. People watched the big screen and when Michelle Obama appeared, there was a roar, and when the Current Occupant and Dick Cheney came out of the Capitol, a low and heartfelt rumble of booing. Dignified booing.

The band tootled on and there were shouts of "O-ba-ma" and also "Yes we can" (and also "Down in front") and then he came out and the place went up. That was the first big moment. The second was when he took the oath and said, "so help me, God" and the cannons boomed and you got a big lump in your throat. And the third was afterward.

But the great moment came later, as the mob flowed slowly across the grounds.

The crowd stopped and stared, a little stunned at the reality of it.

They saw it on a screen in front of the Capitol and it was actually happening on the other side. The Bushes went up the stairs, turned, waved and disappeared into the cabin of the Marine helicopter, and people started to cheer in earnest. It was the most genuine, spontaneous, universal moment of the day. It was like watching the ice go out on the river.

Good stuff.

I'll try to write more blog, but it isn't easy these days. I'm distracted by smaller screens, enjoying the glib one liners of Facebook and busy enough as it is. But I know it's important to be here, I know you show up, I won't give up.

Lastly, Charlie the dog is settling in nicely. Here is a little love photo I took of him on Monday.

"A Smarter Stimulus"

I read a really interesting article in the New Yorker last night about President Obama's (!) plan to reduce withholding payments as a form of economic stimulus...

The Financial Page
A Smarter Stimulus
by James Surowiecki

Cutting taxes is usually a surefire political winner. Yet Barack Obama’s plan to include more than a hundred billion dollars in individual tax rebates in his stimulus package has earned him criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. Critics in his own party think the rebate, which Obama wants to distribute by reducing people’s withholding payments, will be too small to make a difference—the equivalent of an extra forty dollars or so a month. Naysayers from the right maintain that, because the tax rebate is a onetime event rather than a permanent reduction in tax rates, it will have only a negligible effect. Skeptics on both sides worry that most people will save the rebate rather than spend it.

One explanation for why rebates don’t have a bigger impact is that they don’t affect what Milton Friedman called people’s “permanent income.” Friedman argued that people’s spending is determined by what they think their income will be over time: they change their spending habits only if they think they’re going to be permanently wealthier or poorer.

If they think of it as wealth, they’re more likely to save it, and if they think of it as income they’re more likely to spend it. That’s because many people tend to base their spending not on their long-term earning potential or on their assets but on what they think of as their current income, an amount best defined by what’s in their regular paycheck. When that number goes up, so does people’s spending. In Thaler’s words, “People tend to consume from income and leave perceived ‘wealth’ alone.”

So what does this mean for making a rebate work? If you want people to spend the money, you don’t want to give them one big check, because that makes it more likely that they’ll think of it as an increase in their wealth and save it. Instead, you want to give them small amounts over time. And you want the rebate to show up as an increase in people’s take-home pay, because an increase in steady income is more likely to translate into an increase in spending. What can accomplish both of these goals? Reducing people’s withholding payments.

Maggie just now

PEACE QUOTE

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

I am testing

Mobile Blogging from here.

This is me testing the ability to post to my blog from my new iPhone. Not too hard!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Drinks will be served "On the Baracks!"

PK on the street

Patrick is an old friend of ours, from way back. He lives in (and comes from) Duvall, Washington. We had heard that back there is FUBAR. He forwarded me this picture:

This picture is of a bridge over 124th Street. If you come down Novelty Hill road from Redmond then this is the road/bridge you'd cross to get to Hwy 203. Northbound 203 goes to Duvall then Monroe. Southbound goes to Carnation and onto Fall City then I-90.

Jeff asked him:

Hey Pat, is DU-vall reconnected to civilization yet? How long before you start fighting your neighbors over the dwindling food supplies?

And he said:

I tell you Gilligan there's no way off the island!: Right now all the roads are cut off. Monroe road should open up by tomorrow. We hope the Woodinville-Duvall rd is open by Monday. Road to Carnation and Fall City should be open later today...

Then sent us these:



Yowzer! Stay dry PK!

His name is Charlie.

What a sweet little peanut this guy is! Right now he's cuddled up next me, his cool little nose huffing against the back of my hand. Can't quite get close enough. Love it!

Charlie appears to be about 6 years old, although our vet will be checking him out next week. I'll be interested to hear what she says. There's no real background story to him, he's a true shelter dog. I tell myself he was some old lady's lap dog and when she passed, her next of kin took him to a shelter on their way to work.

The lady who fostered him was right on the money in her description. Very cuddly, a real love. Loves kids and other dogs, but also very slow to warm. Luckily I'm the one he loves the most!

He and Jim are going to get along fine. Jim is like a gorgeous thoroughbred of a dog just under a year old. He's very playful and curious and interested in playing with Charlie. But he seems to get that Charlie isn't interested yet. I think they'll do fine together.

Witness this very boring video. You can see that Jim is friendly and not aggressive and very open to sharing what he's got with Charlie:





Cute, right? Welcome, Charlie.

No name yet...

But check out the cute little dog we adopted today.... sweet, right?! Fits inside my jacket!

Names?

Maggie has a message for Serah

Wednesday Afternoon

Hello!

It is totally snowing here you guys... Jeff has put his family chili recipe into the crock-pot, and it smells delicious.

Look at this cute picture of Maggie.



Oh let's see... hmm... where to start...I got my new issue of "The New Yorker" for this week finally! I have already read a fascinating article about mashgihim (kosher inspectors) in China. Which led me to this funny photo:


I've been thinking a lot about Vicky Pollard and Jeri Blank. Which led me to this:



and this:



And now my feet are cold and the dog is whining and I will now bid you farewell. And happy new year!

oo - one more!

Maggie opens a gift from Santa

Jeff's Ice Storm video

We have power, and it snowed.

Two things about this video:

1. everything is flipped. bizarro. alternate universe? my porch is to the right out the door, not the left for starters...

2. I didn't hold the macbook high enough to capture jim, but that's okay. no big deal.

3. I will perhaps (perhaps.) film a reveal later, after all the tidying. stay tuned!

WE'VE GOT POWER!!!!

Wednesday Evening

Well I am certainly more comfortable, more 'at home' here in my sub-let. I am over at my friend Brian's apartment while he is out at a meeting. The kids (Henry and Lily) are watching a movie and Maggie is playing quietly in a nice hot bath. And I'm here with you.

Oh blog, I wish I had better news to report. 6 days later, still no power. It has been a memorable week. It's strange to come home to a totally dark house each night. We've eaten out for dinner (or paid to eat dinner each night), done laundry at Bob's, taken a shower someplace different each time, been kept toasty and warm by the wood stove, learned how to load the wood stove, bought a cord of wood, lugged gallons of water and charged anything that with batteries at any place I could get either, the list goes on and on.

Observations:

Jim. You can tell he's confused. He's in his crate during the day, so the house is dark by the time he comes out for the evening. This is fooling with his habits in many ways, I am sure. Is not fully comprehending.

Maggie. It's funny how kids are. She still reaches for the faucet to rinse her toothbrush, still stands up on tippy toes to try for the light when going in to the bathroom, pines for 'something cold! something not from the pantry!'

cutting it short, more later -

Pictures from the Ice Storm

Here are some pictures I took from the ice storm... p.s. still no power. And Henry's out of school until January 5!

irksome!

This is the field across the road from us. Notice how the netting our neighbor uses to keep deer out of her garden has ice all over it.

A close up of the grass in our front yard.

My van.

Front yard.

Trike.

Feedback about my cysts

Here is some first hand testimony I just received from a friend:

You will also be excited to know I recently had a cyst drained, after it got infected over the summer. It went from a little bump the circumference of a nickel, or less, to a giant ugly painful red-purple chicken-egg-sized horror in the course of two weeks. It coincided with July 4 weekend, and I had to see two doctors, the second one twice after he cancelled the first appointment, which is why it took so long and got so horrible. Having it drained SUCKED, stinky and painful. I didn't have it removed at the time because you have to drain first, then remove later (that's if it is infected like mine; if no infection, you can just remove); but now the doc says it's too small to
remove (good job draining it!) so we have to wait til it grows again. It has not noticeably grown in the past five months. It's right on my neck, which apparently is a very sensitive place for surgery. I've had that thing since high school, with no problems until YIKES. So yeah, I encourage you to have yours removed before they go haywire.

Further:

They just get infected after a while, could take months, could take decades, like mine took about 20 years. I don't know how much you know about cysts: they form when a hair follicle duct gets blocked, and a little hard wall forms under the skin, keeping things in that should normally be exuded through the duct. But it's okay until it gets infected, which causes a buildup of pus (that's the stinky part) and blood. At least, that's my understanding. So they drain it, and take out as much of the cyst wall as
they can. Sometimes if they get all of the wall, it never comes back. With mine, they got a lot of it but not all of it, so it's still there, but it is teeny tiny now. It was painful when it was infected, especially when trying to sleep, and having it drained hurts even though they numb the local area because they're taking a scalpel to you! Giant sharp rotating knives, man!!! But after enduring two weeks of increasing pain, it was a huge relief once the draining was done. The surgeon offered to preserve the pieces in a jar for me; I said no thank you.

Original post:

In an effort to rid myself of bumps on my head, I am considering having two
removed in early January. They're sebaceous cysts, don't panic. In an attempt to research just what I'm in for in having them removed, I googled it and found some crazy stuff, yo! Check this out. This is a person who had cysts on their head, but let them go a bit longer than I intend to!

If you want to be really freaked out, go here and look at that (NotSafeForWork). Apparently to remove it, the doctor has to rub and massage and squeeze out the interior of the cyst!

Me, Mom and Dad and Andy Gibb

PEACE QUOTE

Listen,

says ambition,

nervously shifting her weight from one boot to another -
why don't you get going?

For there I am, in the mossy shadows, under the trees.

And to tell the truth I don't want to let go of the wrists of idleness,

I don't want to sell my life for money,

I don't even want to come in out of the rain.

- Mary Oliver